River Mersey - An Environmental Success Story
Collapse
X
-
River Mersey - An Environmental Success Story
When I was a kid my parents used to take me on the local Liverpool to Southport railway up to Formby, a small town just north of Liverpool. It was, and still is, a place of sand dunes and pine trees, sloping down to a long flat beach called Mad Wharf Sands. We would picnic in the dunes, then run down the beach and swim in the Irish Sea just outside of the dredged Mersey shipping channel. If the tide was out it was a very long walk down to the water. The Mersey has the second highest tidal range in the UK, so the water comes in VERY fast across the sands. There are also quicksands there, so much caution was needed. We would watch huge oil tankers go by, Navy ships, occasional Cunard liners heading into or out of Huskisson Dock, and the regular Dublin and Isle of Man ferries.Structures without reference to geometry tend toward the ramshackleTags: None -
Re: River Mersey - An Environmental Success Story
We could also see the pilot ships stationed out on the bar. There were three in service, Thomas Brocklebank (cutter no.1), Edmund Gardner (cutter no.2) and Arnet Robinson (cutter no.3). Each was named after past chairmen of the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board.
They would be stationed one week at the Liverpool Bar, followed by one week at Point Lynas, Anglesey, and then serve one week as supply ship to the other two. My old man was in the Royal Navy during WWII and used to delight in telling me this stuff.
Structures without reference to geometry tend toward the ramshackle -
Re: River Mersey - An Environmental Success Story
Sadly, back in the day, while swimming, along with the dead jellyfish we would often encounter floating turds, condoms and solid tarry lumps of crude oil. There had been no fish in the Mersey for well over a hundred years. Historically the Mersey was a good salmon river but the fish disappeared with the industrial revolution of the 19th century. And the pollution from industry and sewage became so terrible that research carried out in the 1970s showed that 80% of the entire river basin system, meaning the main river and all its tributaries - about 1,200 miles of waterway - was unable to support fish life.
It was believed to be the most polluted river system in all of Europe, but in the 1980s things started to change.Structures without reference to geometry tend toward the ramshackleComment
-
Re: River Mersey - An Environmental Success Story
The clean-up campaign was prompted by Michael Heseltine, appointed minister for Merseyside by Margaret Thatcher after the riots of 1981, who described the state of the river as "an affront to a civilised society".
“Today the river is an affront to the standards a civilised society should demand of its environment. Untreated sewage, pollutants, noxious discharges all contribute to water conditions and environmental standards that are perhaps the single most deplorable feature of this critical part of England.”
The Mersey Basin Campaign, a 25 year clean-up project, was started in 1985. They set up a network of over 20 Action Partnerships, working closely with volunteers, schools, businesses, local authorities, regulators and politicians on a wide range of improvement projects, and received cross-party government support. In 1998 Tony Blair's Labour government formed the 'Healthy Waterways Trust' which continued the project. It continued to receive support from the Labour government until its completion in 2010.
Structures without reference to geometry tend toward the ramshackleComment
-
Re: River Mersey - An Environmental Success Story
In 1999 the UK government's Environment Agency reported that fish had started to return to the river..
SALMON HAVE returned to the Mersey, which 15 years ago was the most polluted river system in Europe, the Environment Agency believes.
More recently, otters, brown trout and salmon have been seen in increasing numbers, while work continues to reconnect small linking tributaries to the main river system.
The river could support many thousands of the fish if some sections are changed, according to those behind a re-routing project
In 2016 the Healthy Waterways Trust was renamed The Healthy Rivers Trust, and in 2017 The Healthy Rivers Trust and the Mersey Basin Rivers Trust merged to form a new charity - the Mersey Rivers Trust. So the work continues.
Structures without reference to geometry tend toward the ramshackleComment
-
Re: River Mersey - An Environmental Success Story
Good News!David G
Harbor Woodworks
https://www.facebook.com/HarborWoodworks/
"It was a Sunday morning and Goddard gave thanks that there were still places where one could worship in temples not made by human hands." -- L. F. Herreshoff (The Compleat Cruiser)
Comment
Comment